Dirty 30 "Best Group on W30"

[MeadowLily]

Graduation.Posted 02 October 2014 - 06:26 AM

Because the Whole30 plan is for participants to eat three meals per day with additional meals pre- and post-workout, the Whole30 does not include any advice for how to make the best of a fast. 

The Whole30 was never meant to be part of your ongoing life, but a special period of 30 days where you go to to extremes to learn important things about your relationship to food and how it effects you. I recommend that you schedule a Whole30 when you will not have a conflict with a requirement to fast for medical or religious reasons. 

 

Thank you, Fran, for the article.   Abstainer or Moderator.

 

Graduation or no graduation.   Reintro or no reintro.   

[frantastic]

This was in a different thread and I liked it so much that I wanted to share with y'all (and you may have seen it or it may be on here already and I missed it).

 

http://www.gretchenrubin.com/happiness_project/2012/10/back-by-popular-demand-are-you-an-abstainer-or-a-moderator/

 

I DEFINITELY fall into the abstainer category. Regarding food, I'm a total cliché with being given an inch and taking a mile. No shading for me - it gets me in trouble (and makes all of my pants uncomfortable)

[NannyD]

Good morning Everybody,

 

Several days disconnected from here and like 10 pages to read and catch-up.

 

I see everybody making progress. Bday last Wednesday and my family was a little fussy that I did not want a cake. I just want them to save the money... and avoid the temptation. I did good!

 

Did the pre-op last Friday, and the hospital left me with this orange bracelet and my friends and family were teasing me that I look like I escaped from the mental hospital hahaha...

Surgery planned for next Friday. The one surgery I feel a relief I will have, hope this one to be the last one. Doctor will try to preserve my ovaries if they are in good shape and condition. I am ready for this. Good time to be whole30 compliant and relaxed, at home for a couple of weeks.

 

Blessings and hugs everybody. Will stay in touch this week, and probably after surgery when I will be at home with my laptop.

 

xoxoxoxox

[MeadowLily]

Dave, I hope you don't mind...but Page 47 was a very good year, fine wine...

 

 

08 July 2014 - 01:39 PM

 

Rose - you are completely wrong! Perfection is awesome and completely obtainable! I started this thread......and this group is PERFECT! we have the perfect blend of experience and inexperienced, cooks and non-cooks, athletes and couch potatoes, aches and wellness, happy and sad. For every yen...we have found a yang! We propped each other up when it was needed and offered the "gentle" tough love when required. We laughed, we cried, we ate stuff that we probably would have never thought about trying. WE MADE MAYO! We learned about others, their past, their future, their life, their kids, and spouses, and pets, and gardens. We found out how others spend their free time, how these things changed as they found new energy. We found success to sooo many things in our lives. People found pain relief, they found new clothes....they found old clothes that fit again. I found my belt........!

 

The greatest thing that I learned through this program is that I CAN CONTROL my health. Slimfast and other pseudo diets don't work for me. I GET IT NOW! I used to see people that jogged every day that were overweight and I wondered how is that possible. It's the eating...duh! I read that "six pack abs" are formed by "70% diet and 30% gym"! I actually believe that now. I used to think you could eat whatever you wanted just as long as you kill yourself working out......not anymore. This might be simple to most of you, but to a guy who was a three sport athlete and never got heavy until I was in my late 30's -early 40's........I just couldn't comprehend that my exercise wasn't enough.

 

I loved the humor and good natured fun that this group provided. I know my humor can get a little on the edge sometimes and not sure how it will be taken at times, but I mean well and only post the edgy stuff to give a smile or laugh to the group. This group played very nice together and was very interactive. Our views and post numbers set another record as we completely blew past our last groups totals. With as many views as we had, it was easy to tell that we had A TON of people coming on to our thread to see what all of the fuss was about and BOY did they get an eye full with this group. We had women falling off rubber balls, goat walking, we had dancing Pooh bears, we had busted shoulders, ruined gardens, bike rides, long walks, deep thoughts, silly kids, sick pets, grouchy mornings, happy endings....we had it all! AND...we still do.......don't forget to sign up (please send me your payment immediately) to the Dirty 30 re-intro thread.

 

I have enjoyed being a part of this dynamic and gifted group. I wasn't so much a leader.......more of a guy just along for a great ride. There were plenty of times where I couldn't put as much in as I wanted and was so pleased to see others jump in and take the reigns. This is what a great team does........... when one lags behind, the others pick up the slack. We were/are soooo successful on soooo many levels! 

 

I don't know what the scale will say when I get on it (whenever I decide to do that) and I really don't care. I set a personal goal to lose 51 pounds.......not 49......not 50....51! Why?......because I like even numbers! I weighed 251 at the beginning of January and hated how I felt. Here we are in the middle of July and I know I am under 217.......how much under?...not sure. I still have my goal in sight and will not rest until it is obtained.......but more importantly......I want to stay light....or go even lighter. I don't want to "touch the wall"....and then head back in the same direction! I want to be down to my "kick-ass weight." and stay there....kicking ass! I want my teenage kids to still fear their father...........a little doubt in ones mind goes along way.  

 

My mind is clearer now and my circle of friends now includes all of you. You are all probably perverted old men trying to find thin retired sailors......using fun female pics as avatars.......but if I have a fault....it's trust! Yes...I would like to meet each and everyone of you....not in a bathroom stall at the airport....you sickos......but what fun a gathering like this would be! We could bring goats, and kids (not the goat ones) and pets, and vegetables, and pinecones, dirt, ghee, leeks, wild game, trout............oh the time we would have! We would sit around and drink "dirty" martinis to go with our "dirty" group with "dirty" minds. We would talk and luagh about the old days when we were fat and felt horrible with aches and pains. We would brag about all of the people we have converted to the W30 way of life and how Dallas and Melissa put us all on the payroll and how wealthy we are now! We would jet-set around the world to give lectures and recruit more people. We would be able to meet as a group every year to catch up again......drink Tazo and Tequilla......fall off of rubber balls......(because of the Tazo and Tequilla) and laugh until we had defined abs!

 

To bring this ramble to a close, I am very honored and thankful for everything (big or small) that all of you contributed during our journey. I applaud your successes and your failures....for at least you tried when so many are content to sit on the side, their health being the victim. There is so much more available to us now: energy, knowledge, food, happiness, and friendship! Nothing that you have done in the last 30 days was bad for you! Nothing that you learned will make your life worse. In a world of daily negatives.....you all were my positives.....my rope that pulled me along. I hung on your every word......sometimes not commenting on them.....but I was there. I read, I listened, I thought about your words, I retained.....I LEARNED! I am blessed and happy for all of it! Thank you

 

Dave  

[MeadowLily]

Thank you, Dave.

 

Thank you for always providing strong motivation and being the voice of reason.  Yin and Yang, balanced thinking.

Thank you for your deep insights and wit.  

I don't think any of us have ever met anyone like you.   Your family and coworkers are blessed to have you in their midst... and so are we.

[Deb.]

Ok Deb...I just have to know...

 

Lol. Well it wasn't what I expected. They have a Kickstarter for a real cat cafe, so it was a fundraiser for that. Kind of like a paid adoption event. I've never seen so many people willing to pay for a cat adoption event, in the name of a cat cafe. There were so many people there, that they were only letting people in 12 at a time and these poor cats were like WTF is happening, we are exhausted. They must have raised a bunch of money and they got 30 cats adopted. I hope that when they open the real cat cafe it will be a much calmer place for the animals, as are the ones you see in Japan, etc. 

[CCLaymon]

Deb - " I miss corn the most because I am a taco slut." You do have a way with words - Rick and I were chuckling about this one!!

 

Fran - thanks for the article. I am a reluctant abstainer!!!  That being said, today was very successful, back on the wagon, no cravings. It's that kind of crap that convinces me (every time) that I don't have a food problem.  Have you read the Happiness Project?  I really loved it!

 

Nanny - I wish you the best outcome for your surgery. You seem to have a great outlook, and I think that is often half the battle. Lots of love to you!

 

Meadow - thanks for bringing back that awesome post from Captain Dave!

 

I don't want to steal Meadow's thunder here, but I just couldn't wrap my head around the cat cafe. Here's a little more for others who are curious:

 

 

A cat cafe in Singapore.

• ENLARGE
• CAPTION 

 

SINGAPORE: Singapore is catching on to the cat cafe craze! The world's first cat cafe opened in Taiwan in 1998. The concept then took off in Japan, with nearly 150 cat cafes opening in the past 10 years.

And in Singapore, five such cafes have opened in the past nine months. Neko no Niwa, which means "cat garden", was the first. It opened at the end of last year. Such cafes give urbanites the experience of interacting with cats, without the responsibility or hassle of owning one.

Neko no Niwa owner, Tan Sue-Lynn, said: "I love cats very much! And I'm always very happy to be around cats. When my late cat passed away, I wanted to share the joy of being around cats with people...I wanted to bring the experience of cat cafe into Singapore.

"For people who don't have the opportunity to keep a cat at home or they can't because they have a busy lifestyle, this will be the perfect place for them to learn more about cats and to be in their company. I think being around cats is very relaxing, very therapeutic."

But being a pioneer in cat cafe posed some challenges. Tan Sue-Lynn said: "The talks with AVA and NEA actually started early 2013, so it took us almost a year to get our licences to operate the first cat cafe in Singapore. The challenges were of course valid, which are public safety and health concerns - where there's food being served, where live animals are. But we have since addressed those concerns.

"As long as certain procedures are being looked at and we're careful, there should be no problems having cats and coffee and cakes at the same place."

Meanwhile, the owner of Meomi Cat Cafe, Edwin Tan, also had to get approval for the use of his space. "Initially it was shop use. So we had to change to 'use for a cat interaction room'. The other one would be NEA for the cooking and for the serving of the food. So what they want me to do is to segregate the kitchen from the cat interaction room."

For their own welfare and that of humans, cats entering Singapore have to be screened for several diseases such as toxoplasmosis. The parasite in cat faeces can get onto the fur of an infected cat when it grooms itself. The disease can then be passed to people who pat the cat and then eat without washing their hands.

The newest kid on the block is Cuddles Cat Cafe. Its owner, Jonathan Tan, said: "Well, as you can see, our cat cafe is the biggest, at 2,500 square feet..." Mr Tan faced a different sort of problem - the number of cats in all cat cafes is capped at 20. "We tried pushing the 20-cat limit. We wrote proposal after proposal to them (authorities) but everything was rejected," he said.

"We contacted the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, which told us it has to consider the potential animal welfare implications should a cafe cease to operate," said Mr Jonathan Tan.

That is something which cat cafe owners are also mindful of. Mr Edwin Tan said: "I understand that this might be just a trend. So if the business fails, all the cats will go to my house. (rueful chuckle)"

"But ultimately we don't want the cats to be here throughout their life, if the business can be long. So I plan to retire them around 6 to7 years old. So they can retire in my house."

Others have a broader goal. Mr Jonathan Tan said: "Our main priority was to find cats that would be friendly to humans as well as other cats. We hope that through our cat cafe, we'll be able to build a larger cat-loving community and to create awareness against animal cruelty in Singapore."

Tan Sue-Lynn said: "I have a soft spot for rescued cats. Kai Kai was found in a canal off Bukit Timah Road and he was almost drowning together with his sister but he was rescued. There are a lot of cats out there that need a home. We're also working very closely with Cat Welfare Society to promote the message of adoption." 

[Deb.]

CC yes, that's what I was imagining but that's not what it was - yet. I think they hope that's what it will be, and so do I!!

There was a pop up in NYC and I think in SFO. Very big in Japan. 

I wrote on their FB page that I thought that the cats were stressed and they gave me a big defensive response. 

It was in a part of LA that I haven't been to in about 12 years - weird part of Chinatown. 

I dunno, the whole thing was a bit odd. But they were working with a legit cat rescue agency and those people were there watching and checking on the cats. 

I would have liked to have brought home a cat (there was one named Katmandu who was such a handsome devil)  but Le Grand Orange wouldn't have it. 

Actually the whole thing was an interesting observation in social media at work/PR buzz/Kickstarters etc. I couldn't believe how many people were there. 

It really made me think, if you have something buzzworthy...you can do things, make money. 

My friend Samantha and I are both tv producers who love cats. We're like, we need to do some cat productions! 

[jump4life]

Hello friends!  So today my Whole 66 is over and it was..... fine.   Just fine.   Nothing miraculous, nothing really changed, and I think that is good.  

 

My blood work was somewhat interesting-  I went in hoping for an increase in my HDL (always low) and no change or a decrease in my LDL (usually a bit high but OK)   Nothing changed.   It was just fine.   My triglycerides were the same as last time-  just fine.    My blood sugar was just fine. 

 

My weigh in was fine-   I have lost ~16 pounds since I started Whole 30.  I am very happy with that.   I dont know what my body composition is because I have to go back on Wednesday for  the results session.   And that is fine-  I can wait.   I did better on every metric for the fitness testing -  not by tons but all improvements.  

 

But the best things about today-  I ate good food (still all Whole30 just because it was easiest) and  I had lots of energy all day and I rocked my work out and I am in a good mood.     This is the life -------and I didn't need the numbers to tell me that! 

[Deb.]

Lynn - congrats on your achievements, great stuff. 

Nanny, good luck with your surgery, take good care of yourself. 

 

Interesting article in the NY Times about gluten and FODMAP sensitivity. 

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/when-gluten-sensitivity-isnt-celiac-disease/?action=click&contentCollection=Americas&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article

[MeadowLily]

Great article, Deb.  

 

Everyone living in a big ole city, stay safe out there.  They said the flu season is here early.  Wear your gardening gloves, stuff cotton balls up your noses, wear a mosquito net over your head and don't go barefoot.   Alrighty then... and anything else you can think of.

[jump4life]

Good morning friends!  

 

 This is the first morning in a long time where I am back to my cozy habit of catching up on this thread first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee. Cooler weather is definitely here to stay and I am under the covers with a sweatshirt this morning-  I love fall!  I am going to go back and catch up on all of the posts I have been lurking around but not having a chance to followup on.  

 

Hi Higs!   so good to see you popping in to say hi! Loved the slam poem-   I can get into one of those internet loops "chain watching"   slam contests.... especially on Button Poetry....  here is another one (not quite so uplifitng, but really makes think)...."we are taught to shrink....  weaving silence between the threads... how much space she deserves to occupy... inheritance is accidental" 

 

Hello Callie!   I know I am late to the welcome party but good to meet you.  Fran -   she is adorable.    Love, love, love the silky gingered zucchini soup-   we quite possibly were making a batch at the same time on sunday!   

 

Meadow- from  extra special three egg trucker breakfasts, to calorie creatures, to yoga cats, to reprisals from Dr Dave, to a bunch of catch and releases....  you are definitely the spice of this thread!   However i couldn't like your last post because it activated my gag reflex...  that one is just waiting for the catch and release update! 

 

Dave-  good to see you and good to get to know you a bit better through Meadows reprisals.   Is it weird to say I miss you even though I dont know you as well as some of the others here?   Has the convertible been put away for the season?  How is the decoys business going?

 

Redbird (this name will take me a while to get used to!) -  thanks for sharing your off plan experiments and back and forth decisions for post Whole100-   such a real time view of how to navigate the real world and how to pay attention to how food is affecting you and so matter of fact...  and thats that!   I am also in the abstainer camp-  and the Whole30 lifestyle fits that to a t!

 

Deb-   amazing- 5 months on the Whole 30 lifestyle.  You are really an inspiration!  Five Rhythms looks like a beautiful practice .... when I was surfing to learn  what this was I  came across Chackradance...   and it looks like there is a practioner in LA if you are interested.   Thanks also for Domestic Man... great site. 

 

Anne-   wow the vacation spot looks amazing.  I could almost feel the peace and hear the waves in the picture you posted.   Did you take the bikes out for a ride yesterday?

 

Laurie-    hugs.   Peace.   My best to Steve. 

 

Nanny-   Happy belated birthday!   thinking of you with your orange bracelet and sending good thoughts to the universe for your surgery

 

Sissy-   I see you have been here watching... how are things?

 

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

Lynn 

 

[jump4life]

On the subject of yoga….     I just rejoined a yoga class on Fridays at lunch time at work.  I call the teacher a yoga nazi because she is incredibly picky on form-  which of course I complete appreciate.   She spends about the first one third of the class having us do a series of hip and shoulder opening moves that are brutal because all of us are so closed up from sitting at our desks all week.   It is simultaneously the hardest workout I do and the most reenergizing.   By the time the class is done I am feeling loose and the tensions of the week are just memories…   and my Friday afternoons are productive and peaceful.    

 

On the subject of cats….  We have two  TSK (Tiger Stripped Kitty, female) and MAK (Marble Allen Kitty, male) – yes they were named by my children when they were young.   My husband and TSK are having a long standing affair.  Every night as he heads to the stairs, she runs ahead of him and looks over her shoulder with a “come hither” look as she climbs ahead of him.   She prowls restlessly around the bedroom until he gets in bed and then stretches herself on his chest and starts purring…  he is asleep in minutes!  If it wasn’t so adorable I would be jealous.  

 

On the subject of reintros-     I have decided to go super, super slow.   I will only be specifically be reintroing wine,  lentils, GF oats, 85% dark chocolate, and grass fed full fat greek yogurt.  I will take my time  to reintroduce each one, while trying to maintain Whole30 for all else.   After that  I will loosen my restrictions on  GF beer, sugar/honey/maple syrup, other non-gluten grains and legumes when I am dining out but not deliberately bring them in house.   

[Ann@HowcrossCastle]

Good morning, all. Little bit overcast today, but I expect that will burn off shortly. The ocean is gray and relatively calm, as is the sky.

I did not ride the bicycle yesterday... but I did go for a good long walk on the beach before settling under the beach umbrellas with a book (on my Kindle, which was in its high-tech sand-n-surf protective case, a.k.a. a Ziploc bag).

[dcducks1]

Hello everyone! Going to try and catch up. The 5K went very well and my wife's dog was the star of the show (pic below). He was covered in the different colors that they throw during the race and he ended up looking like confetti icing.

 

Had a car show/ parade on Sunday and couldn't have asked for better weather. The car looked great and received lots of compliments. They did a "red - white - and blue theme so I got to be the number 2 car in the parade. It was pretty cool and my middle son went with me.

 

Meadow - thanks for reposting one of my older posts. I meant every word and love the group that we created. You are still running at top speed and I am so happy for the new life that you have created thru this program.....YOU ROCK!

 

Jump4life - no, I don't think its strange, I miss all of you also.

 

Deb - you sound great and fun and lively....as always!

 

Higs - you sound like you are doing fantastic and I couldn't wish anything else for you.

 

Laurie/Steve - as always.....my love and prayers are sent to you everyday!

 

Its almost time to put the hotrod away for the winter. I will put it in one more parade on Veterans day and then it goes into the garage for motor work that I have planned to do over the winter. Nothing major, just "pretty work" and some performance modifications.

 

I am also trying to get the boat out once or twice more but the water temp is chilling off quickly.

 

Decoy business is very slow right now but I assume it will pick up very soon. I'm enjoying the break and just finished midterms last week.

 

I still get on here to check on this group. If I missed anyone, my apologies! Keep rlling....you are all unbelievable people that have the power to do ANYTHING!

 

 

Dave

[NannyD]

Hello There,

I am very excited today, my Bday present an Pressure Oven was tested last night with some chicken thighs and veggies and I was amazed how fast and delicious it was. I love my kitchen toys.

I do not know how to post a picture here, so I put a link to my kitchen/health FB page to show it, let's see if I did it right. I want this 3 days of waiting go by fast, waiting is the worst. (PLEASE TEACH ME, I could not attach the link, so I am lost)

Hello Ann, Deb (I love cats but dd and hubby allergic to them :-(), Lynn, Meadow Lily, CC, Red Bird Mom, David, and special hug to Laurie and Steve, in my prayers you two. Hi to everybody else.

Excited with son's football game this evening, hope it goes good, last week we got beat-up!

 

Thank you Dave for the tip, here it goes my oven :-) Tadaaaaa

[dcducks1]

Nanny - if you click on the edit button for your last post, you will then see two buttons at the bottom. Click the one that says "Use Full Editor" and look for the "attach" button. Click "Attach" and look for the photo you want to post. Click save changes when you are done. 

 

 

Dave

[MeadowLily]

Nanny - we will be with you.  

 

I take this as a sign.  My sister and I have a 'sister theme' song.   When we get together we sing....

 

Today...on the Today Show, there was Billy Idol singing this song.  He sounded great.  It's always been a mystery to me why rockers age so well.  I don't care if they look like a pair of leather saddle bags on a Harley....they look good.  It's the music.   

 

It's a sign, not sure of what.  

It's a nice day to start again.
It's a nice day for a white wedding.
It's a nice day to start again.

 

 

Today is a great day.

[jump4life]

The best kind of success.....  my sister called today and told me she has started a whole30....  life is good!    Our goal....to get our dad (who has RA) to ask us about our eating plan by Christmas.......

[higs]

That is awesome, Lynn.  My dad keeps muttering about starting something similar (he has colitis) but hasn't been willing to give up his treats, which are mostly wine and cheese.  I was on my first Whole30 last time he visited and I cooked some of my best W30 meals for him to inspire him.  We ate great food all weekend (and he got to have wine).

[MeadowLily]

Family week.   

 

 

                 

[Ann@HowcrossCastle]

Happy Wednesdsy, all.

It is HOT out already this morning. Gotta find the sunscreen. Are any of you old enough to remember when we used to put on baby oil at the beach instead of sunscreen? Now, of course, we're buying our dermatologists new boats and second homes. :-)

[frantastic]

Ann - I'm old enough to remember putting iodine in the baby oil, because we thought that would help us get more tan! My ex is a dermatologist and he does indeed refer to sun worshippers as "retirement security". Sadly (for me) he didn't have a boat or a second home.

[MeadowLily]

Remember when people thought tanning beds were a safer alternative?  Oh, I guess that was yesterday.  

 

Remember when people used to say "why, you're as brown as a lil Indian".       

 

"Here's Your Sign".....you big dodo.   Wanting to tan your hide like a toasted coconut....did that start in California?

All trends usually do.   I'll look that up.   

 

 

The original trend setters started in the 1920’s amid the “flapper age”. A woman noted for being a “style icon,” Coco Chanel got sunburned while taking a holiday in the South of France and the French Riviera and returned home with a – TAN! A much loved popular singer by the name of Josephine Baker from Paris had a caramel-skin coloring.  This became a very fashionable accessory. Hats became fashion statements instead of protective clothing. “Sun therapy” became very popular and was prescribed as a cure for everything from simple fatigue to tuberculosis.

 

 

In the 1980’s, BMW advertised its convertible as “The Ultimate Tanning Machine.” Indoor tanning salons had become widespread. In the late 1980’s, California Tan is founded with the launch of its first product, Maxgel,  which dramatically helped increase tanning results while supplying the skin with essential moisture-rich ingredients. California Tan discovered the tanning benefits of Tissue Respiratory Factors (TRF) which was a breakthrough tanning technology that allowed the skin to functions more effectively to support greater results and improved skincare.  In 1991 the company announced Heliotherapy, the positive effects of the sun, based on the belief that, in moderation, sun exposure enhances physical and psychological health. A year later, California Tan introduced the first premium indoor tanning lotion, Sizzle for “serious tanners,” revolutionizing the indoor tanning salon industry and teaching the importance of using a tanning lotion to maintain a healthy-looking tan. 

 

[frantastic]

Confession - I actually go to a tanning bed in the winter, because it helps my psoriasis (I have so many fun autoimmune issues). BUT - I only go once a week, for 6 minutes, and it is doctor approved. I don't even get freckles, it's such a small amount. I still feel weird doing it though. It is just SO 80s!!